By Alison Fensterstock
SPIN
SPIN
The long U.S. festival season approaches the finish line with a wet and wild Halloween weekend in New Orleans
Best Reason To Move My Car: Kiss
Everyone parked in Lot B, which was half the media, had to suddenly move their cars halfway through the day to make way for Kiss's pyrotechnic setup. Said lot is a full quarter-mile away from the Voodoo stage, where Gene and the boys were playing Halloween night.
My car was now a long, long muddy walk away from their two-hour closing show, and by time they came on and asked me - yes, I very much wanted the best, the hottest band in the world.
The set didn't disappoint - green jets of flame, stacks of video screens, platform boots taller than me, Gene's tongue and lots and lots of fog. Paul Stanley took us through the whole set, all the way through recent Sonic Boom stuff into the explosive combination closing punches of "Rock N' Roll All Nite," "Love Gun," "Shout It Out Loud" and "Detroit Rock City." In a feat never before seen at Voodoo, he rode an aerial rig out over the crowd to a platform above the soundboard.
As the band walked offstage behind a screen that sweetly read "Kiss Loves You New Orleans!" rumbling was audible; soon, an Independence Day-worthy fireworks display spurted across the sky, originating about where I had parked ten hours ago. The entire festival grounds, underneath the spidery explosions of color, was part of the Kiss show.
